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Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher known for being a critic of Christianity, and his quotes, “God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, murderers of all murderers?” and “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” Early Life Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 into a devout Lutheran family in the small German town of Rocken, of about only 600 people. Carl Nietzsche, Friedrich’s father, was a Lutheran pastor and the priest of the town. However, when Nietzsche was only 4, in July of 1849, Nietzsche’s father died of an unknown brain disease. Later that same year, Nietzsche’s brother, Ludwig, died at the age of only two-and-a-half. These two events left Nietzsche with only his mother, Franziska, and his sister, Elisabeth. At school, Nietzsche acted very intellectually and because of his greater knowledge, was bullied and had very few friends. Official Career When Nietzsche was in his late teens, he had sex with a prostitute and contracted an STD that would leave him in nearly constant pain for the rest of his life. For college, Nietzsche attended the University of Basel in Germany. When he was 24, he became the youngest professor to ever teach at the University of Basel when he became a philology teacher. However, when he was only 30, he had to retire from his official career due to his STD. After retiring, Nietzsche moved to the Swiss Alps and lived alone for a while. Lou Andreas-Salomé and Paul Ree While living in the Swiss Alps, Nietzsche made friends with two people: Lou Andreas-Salome and Paul Ree. Lou Andreas-Salomé was a young adult who admired Nietzsche and his philosophy so much that she decided to move to the Swiss Alps to meet him. Paul Ree was another philosopher. Salomé, Ree, and Nietzsche felt like they were the only three people in the world who understood Nietzschean philosophy. Because of this, the three attempted to form a school where Nietzsche’s philosophy would be taught. However, the idea never came to fruition. Nietzsche began to fall in love with Salomé but tried to resist the urge to propose to her as Paul Ree also was trying to be with her. Eventually, the impulse got too hard to resist and proposed to her, however she was merely disgusted with Nietzsche and his incompetence when it came to romance, and left the Swiss Alps. After this, Nietzsche, unfortunately, became very sexist. After this refusal, Nietzsche stopped dating, never married, and never had children. Time As a Philosopher During his time in the Swiss Alps, Nietzsche wrote and published many different books. These are The Birth of Tragedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and others. Note: The only books by Nietzsche that will be covered are his most known books. If every book he wrote was covered here, this section would be irrationally long. In 1872, Nietzsche published his first book as a philosopher, which was called The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, commonly known as just The Birth of Tragedy. ''In this book, Nietzsche discussed the meaning of entertainment. In 1874, Nietzsche published a collection of his thoughts which he called ''Untimely Meditations. In April of 1878, Nietzsche published his next book, Human, All Too Human, which was a collection of 638 sayings that Nietzsche had come up with. In 1881, Nietzsche published The Dawn of the Day, which was his critique of Christianity. The following year, in May of 1882, Nietzsche published a collection of 8 poems he wrote called Idylls from Messina. Later in 1882, Nietzsche published a book called The Gay Science, which is also known as The Joyful Wisdom. In this book, Nietzsche argued for the position that the more someone knows, the more inquisitive they are, etc., they happier they are. In 1883, Nietzsche published the first part of a novel called Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The novel had 4 parts and the final part was published in 1885. The novel was about a man named Zarathustra who goes to live alone in the mountains and finds all the wisdom in the world. He then leaves the mountain and begins teaching his wisdom. In 1886, Nietzsche published Beyond Good and Evil, which was Nietzsche’s analysis of morality. In 1887, Nietzsche published On the Genealogy of Morality, which was Nietzsche’s analysis of the history of morality. Turin Vacation, Mental Breakdown, and Death On January 3, 1889, Nietzsche was on a holiday to the Italian city of Turin. In the early morning of that day, January 3, 1889, Nietzsche was taking a walk to the center of the city when he saw a horse being beaten by its driver. Nietzsche ran over to the horse, hugged its neck, and whispered in its ear, “I understand you.” After doing this, Nietzsche stopped moving. Due to his actions towards the horse, Nietzsche was breifly arrested for disturbing the peace. Soon after his arrest, on January 5, 1889, Nietzsche’s landlord, David Fino, took Nietzsche back to Germany to see what was wrong. After going to a mental doctor’s office, Nietzsche was diagnosed with dementia. After this diagnosis, Nietzsche muttered, “Mother, I am dumb.” A little while after that, Nietzsche began to sketch a drawing of a man and woman kissing, and then became completely paralyzed. After becoming paralyzed, Nietzsche went under the care of his mother. However, his mother died on April 20, 1897 and then came under the care of his sister, Elisabeth. Elisabeth cared little for her brother and allowed her house to become a museum where people would come and take pictures of Nietzsche in his paralyzed state. In the year 1900, Nietzsche caught pneumonia. Nietzsche then died of pneumonia on August 25, 1900. Philosophy Nietzsche believed that humanity was constantly falling prey to their primal instincts and emotions. Nietzsche had serious concern for humanity and it’s faults. To overcome the various faults of humanity and become what Nietzsche called an Ubermensch, which is German for overman, Nietzsche has 6 tips for humanity: First of all, Nietzsche believed that whenever something made a person jealous, the person shouldn’t ignore their jealousy, but work to get what their jealous of. Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity actually stemmed from this idea. Nietzsche believed that because Christianity told us not to listen to our jealousies, Christianity made us weak and was therefore harmful. Secondly, Nietzsche believed that we should be gentle towards the weak out of an awareness of the fact that we’re stronger than them. Thirdly, Nietzsche believed that an Ubermensch never runs from their problems, instead faces up to them and tries to solve them. Fourth of all, Nietzsche believed that an Ubermensch will follow their own path in life, and make their own values as opposed to following what everyone else wants. Fifth, Nietzsche believed that we should stop being upset over things we can’t control. In fact, Nietzsche said, we should be happy about everything that happens to us because nearly all forms of suffering teach us a lesson that will prevent us from making that mistake again. Nietzsche labeled this idea “amor fati,” which is Latin for “love of fati,” or “love of one‘s fate.” Sixth and finally, Nietzsche emphasized the importance of the concept that as long as we tried to do something good, any result that stems from it is okay because we did the best we could and tried to do it. Category:German Philosophers Category:German philosophers Category:Philosophy of Religion